Breast Cancer Risk in Carrying Cell Phone in Your Bra, Dr. Oz Warns

Dr. Oz devoted the December 6 episode of the show to the issue, featuring a woman who had carried her phone in her bra for four years, Examiner.com reports. When diagnosed with breast cancer, the woman realized the tumor was located just where she had stored her phone. Many women find it convenient to carry their phones in their bra when they’re not carrying a purse or do not have a pocket for the phone, such as when exercising or out for a walk.

Research has not definitely proved that carrying a phone in your bra causes breast cancer, but Dr. Oz recommends caution, and breast cancer expert Dr. John West agrees. Dr. West expressed particular concerned about the risks for teenage cell phone users, but he recommends that all women, regardless of age, carry or store their phones away from the chest.

In the ongoing debate about the health effects of cell phone radiation, the World Health Organization (WHO) says cell phone radiation can possibly cause cancer and the organization places phone radiation in the same carcinogenic hazard category as lead, engine exhaust, and chloroform, according to Examiner.com. Younger phone users will have a greater lifetime exposure to this radiation and thus a greater risk for later disease.

In an interview with CNN, Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that it can take “several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences” of environmental factors. The Environmental Health Trust, an organization that educates about controllable environmental health risks and advocates for policy changes to reduce those risks, notes that “cell phones are small microwave radios that should not be kept directly on the body.”